1. Field of the Invention
A pliers-type insulation stripping tool includes a releasable fastening device for fastening a knife cassette to at least one of the knife carrier members that are longitudinally displaced by the pivotally connected tool handle members to remove a severed length of insulation from a longitudinally-arranged insulated conductor that is clamped between by the tool gripping jaws. A U-shaped resilient spring wire fastener device has leg portions that are resiliently biased apart, at least one of the legs containing a laterally extending bulge portion that extends into a corresponding locking slot contained in a side wall of the knife cassette.
2. Description of Related Art
Pliers-type insulation stripping tools are well known in the patent prior art, as shown by the U.S. patents to Schmode et al No. 5,572,911, Hetlund et al No. 6,895,836, and Tapper No. 6,910,401, among others. As is customary in the art, an insulated conductor having an end portion that is to be stripped is gripped between a pair of clamping jaws upon pivotal movement of the tool handles toward an intermediate position, and cutting means are operable to sever a length of the insulation layer. Upon further pivotal movement of the handles from the intermediate position toward the final closed position, the cutting means are displaced to strip the severed length of insulation from the conductor.
In the Tapper patent, the connection between the pivotally connected arms is a tubular pivot bearing. As a result, the two arms of course can be pivoted toward each other, but the nevertheless retain firmly connected with each other as a unit. Received in this pivot bearing is a pivot pin that also connects the cutting assembly with the retracting rod of the stripping linkage. The disadvantage of this design is represented by the fact that the cutting unit can be removed only completely from the pliers-type tool, and that removal of the cutting is laborious and time-consuming because, in addition, the pivot pin must be removed from its bearing. Furthermore, the pivot pin proved to be rather ill-suited as a means for fastening the cutting unit to the connecting rod of the displacement means, especially as a result of wear and bending of the pivot pin during extended use of the too. Even if the pivot pin is only slightly bent, it is difficult to remove the pivot pin for replacement of the knife assembly, and to subsequently reinsert the pivot pin into its bearing.
Consequently, the present invention was developed to provide an insulation stripping tool in which the individual knife-bearing cassettes may be readily removed and replaced on their respective carrier arms, whereby complete removal of the cutting means from the tool is avoided.